Is post-hypertonic lysis of human red blood cells caused by excessive cell volume regulation?

Human red blood cells (RBC) exposed to hypertonic media are subject to post-hypertonic lysis - an injury that only develops during resuspension to an isotonic medium. The nature of post-hypertonic lysis was previously hypothesized to be osmotic when cation leaks were observed, and salt loading was suggested as a cause of the cell swelling upon resuspension in an isotonic medium. However, it was problematic to account for the salt loading since the plasma membrane of human RBCs was considered impermeable to cations.

Tunable Subnanometer Gaps in Self-Assembled Monolayer Gold Nanoparticle Superlattices Enabling Strong Plasmonic Field Confinement.

Nanoparticle superlattices produced with controllable interparticle gap distances down to the subnanometer range are of superior significance for applications in electronic and plasmonic devices as well as in optical metasurfaces. In this work, a method to fabricate large-area (∼1 cm) gold nanoparticle (GNP) superlattices with a typical size of single domains at several micrometers and high-density nanogaps of tunable distances (from 2.3 to 0.

Cryoprotective Mechanism of DMSO Induced by the Inhibitory Effect on Eutectic NaCl Crystallization.

Cryopreservation is a critical procedure in autologous hematopoietic stem cell transplantation. Dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) is the cryoprotectant of choice. Optimization of the cryopreservation protocol in the past revealed a dramatic loss of cell viability associated with a reduction of the DMSO concentration below 2 vol % in the freezing medium.

Nanofriction Properties of Mono- and Double-Layer TiCT MXenes.

Unique structure and ability to control the surface termination groups of MXenes make these materials extremely promising for solid lubrication applications. Due to the challenging delamination process, the tribological properties of two-dimensional MXenes particles have been mostly investigated as additive components in the solvents working in the macrosystem, while the understanding of the nanotribological properties of mono- and few-layer MXenes is still limited. Here, we investigate the nanotribological properties of mono- and double-layer TiCT MXenes deposited by the Langmuir-Schaefer technique on SiO/Si substrates.

On crystallization of water confined in liposomes and cryoprotective action of DMSO.

In this work, the phase behavior of cryoprotective mixtures based on dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO) mixed with a lipid bilayer consisting of dimyristoyl phosphatidylcholine (DMPC) was studied. This system represented a model of a biological cell and its membrane. The aim of the work was to clarify the origin of the cryoprotective action of low-concentrated mixtures (1-10 vol%) DMSO in water, representing mixtures used in cryopreservation in cell therapy.

Neotropical Melyroidea group cockroaches reveal various degrees of (eu)sociality.

Eusociality in its various degrees represents an animal social system characterised by cooperative brood care, differentiation into castes and generational overlap. The fossil record indicates that eusociality is likely to have originated in hymenopterans and blattodeans during the Cretaceous. In this study, we present findings from surveys in Peruvian (Villa Carmen) and Ecuadorian (Rio Bigal, El Reventador) cloud forests revealing the first extant cockroach species living in complex, structured groups (n = 90-200 individuals, ˃ 20 adults).

Microstructural free volume and dynamics of cryoprotective DMSO-water mixtures at low DMSO concentration.

This work investigates the free-volume properties of the dimethyl sulfoxide (DMSO)-water mixtures by positron annihilation lifetime spectroscopy over a wide temperature range of 20-320 K. The processes of melting and solidification of the water, DMSO and the DMSO-water mixtures at 1.8, 2.

Tailored Langmuir-Schaefer Deposition of Few-Layer MoS Nanosheet Films for Electronic Applications.

Few-layer MoS films stay at the forefront of current research of two-dimensional materials. At present, continuous MoS films are prepared by chemical vapor deposition (CVD) techniques. Herein, we present a cost-effective fabrication of the large-area spatially uniform films of few-layer MoS flakes using a modified Langmuir-Schaefer technique.

Individual Low-Energy Toroidal Dipole State in ^{24}Mg.

The low-energy dipole excitations in ^{24}Mg are investigated within the Skyrme quasiparticle random phase approximation for axial nuclei. The calculations with the force SLy6 reveal a remarkable feature: the lowest I^{π}K=1^{-}1 excitation (E=7.92  MeV) in ^{24}Mg is a vortical toroidal state (TS) representing a specific vortex-antivortex realization of the well-known spherical Hill's vortex in a strongly deformed axial confinement.

Kinetics of Polymer-Fullerene Phase Separation during Solvent Annealing Studied by Table-Top X-ray Scattering.

Solvent annealing is an efficient way of phase separation in polymer-fullerene blends to optimize bulk heterojunction morphology of active layer in polymer solar cells. To track the process in real time across all relevant stages of solvent evaporation, laboratory-based in situ small- and wide-angle X-ray scattering measurements were applied simultaneously to a model P3HT:PCBM blend dissolved in dichlorobenzene. The PCBM molecule agglomeration starts at ∼7 wt % concentration of solid content of the blend in solvent.

Magnetic order in hybrid frustrated magnets Gd(2-x)Tb(x)Ti2O7 (x = 0.2 and 0.5).

We report on the specific heat, magnetization and ac susceptibility measurements of single crystals of hybrid frustrated magnets Gd(1.8)Tb(0.2)Ti(2)O(7) and Gd(1.